The next time someone suggests to you that genealogy didn’t take hold in America until the Bicentennial in 1976, point out that The Register rightfully marks its current edition as “Volume 156.”

Yes, 156 years is the length of time the Boston-based New England Historic Genealogical Society has been printing its quarterly, formally known as the New England Historical and Genealogical Register.

“Hist-Gen,” as the society is known to those who read The Register or visit its incomparable library on Newbury Street in Boston, is one of the most respected such organizations in the world.

Articles in the April issue include:

. “Joseph Baldwin Jr. of Milford, Connecticut, and Hadley, Massachusetts,” by David Kendall Martin.

. “Samuel Mills, Sadler, of Jamaica, New York, and Greenwich, Connecticut,” by Helen Schatvet Ullman.

. “The Family of William Edgerton of Bozrah, Connecticut,” by Mark Edward Armstrong.

And, I would add, often there are articles on Maine ancestors.

What makes The Register and other genealogical publications so valuable is the care with which they are edited, and the fact that those in charge insist that material be well-documented.

The editor of such a publication doesn’t have to be one of the 50 select members of the Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists, but it happens that several of those involved in putting out The Register are.

You can find The Register in several libraries in Maine, among them Bangor Public Library – in the Bangor Room, Maine State Library in Augusta, and Special Collections at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

And yet, some 20,000 people throughout the world have chosen to join NEHGS – to receive their own copy of The Register by mail, to use the library in Boston, and to borrow by mail many of the 30,000 circulating volumes Hist-Gen has.

One of the newer publications that comes in the mail, sent every other month, is a 64-page magazine, “New England Ancestors.” I really like this publication, too, for its tips, reviews, information on resources.

The society also has a Web site, www.newenglandancestors.org.

Annual membership in the United States is $60 for an individual, $80 for a family. Other categories include donations to the society, and life memberships are $2,500.

You may send for a membership by writing NEHGS, 101 Newbury St., Boston, MA 02116-3007; or join on line at the Web address.

Last week we told you about various publications available through the Madawaska Historical Society. Postage for any two-volume sets is $5.

Also, I accidentally re-named the editor of the society newsletter. She is Verna Cyr-Fortin.

Certainly there are thousands of Michaud descendants in Maine. The Association des familles Michaud Inc. will hold its annual reunion June 8-9 at Hotel Universel, Sainte-Foy, Quebec City. For information on this gathering of the descendants of Pierre Michaud, check the Web at www.genealogie.org/famille/michaud/page1a.html.

By the way, the Web site www.genealogie.org will offer you links to many Franco-American family associations.

3186. LARRY. Trying to find Jacqueline Larry from Skowhegan, b. 1933. Her mother was Marion Gertrude Larry. Marilyn Hannigan, R1 Box 153H, Houlton, ME 04730; glh@mfx.net.

Send queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail to familyti@bangordailynews.net.